Patrick Edwards Knows Woodworking

I’ve known about W. Patrick Edwards and his Old Brown Glue for some time. I’ve read his blogs (click here) and been fascinated by his work. But I didn’t realize how much Patrick knows about woodworking. Until, that is, I watched a free video of Graham Blackburn’s Woodworking in Action hosted on Popular Woodworking’s “Shop Class on Demand” site (200 plus videos available and you can get a free four-day trial.)

As I watched the segment on Patrick Edwards, my curiosity was piqued as he talked about why hand-tool work today is so different than in the past and about the evolution of veneer. I was so caught off guard when he discussed his workbench that I had to backtrack to listen to his words a second time – he built his first workbench after 20 years of woodworking, and you have to see how he combined two distinct designs. Genius.

I believe his take, if I can speak for him, is that today’s veneer is so thin that it does not work the same as the older, thicker-cut veneer does and should not be used to build furniture. From my perspective, to work with veneer that’s 1/40″ is more difficult and it’s easier to sand through. I generally cut my own veneer in the shop, or I look for veneer that has been cut for a while (hence a thicker cut). You can sometimes find veneer being cut today that is 1/16″ thick. If you look hard.

Thanks for the education, Glen…and Patrick. The things I learned (already made a bench that’s an amalgam of ideas from Schwarz, Lang, Landis and others) have to do with the differences between air-dried and kiln-dried woods, the various (desirable) properties of protein glues and the evolution of veneers. Fascinating stuff from a great teacher! Very enjoyable videos.
The precision and speed with which Patrick uses that chevalet are truly astounding!

I tried going to the page to watch the two free videos but the page is mostly blank and nothing resembling a video window or a link to a video ever loaded. Is there something wrong with that page? Thanks.

I’m not having any problems, Jim. There are two videos on the page and they are both lengthy. It may be that you are not waiting long enough, or your service provider is moving kind of slow. Try a different computer if you can.